Uniform credit laws approved

Australia will – finally – get uniform national consumer credit protection laws from July 1 next year.

This follows passage of the necessary legislation through the Senate last night

“These reforms have been a long time coming,” Minister for Financial Services, Chris Bowen said.

Mr Bowen said the  reforms would see the creation of a single, standard, set of national laws for the regulation of consumer credit.

“The new laws will also see for the first time consumer protections and regulation put in place for margin loans, as well as the national regulation of trustees and debentures,” Mr Bowen said. 

“They will help provide greater certainty to the credit sector while strengthening the range of protections that are in place for vulnerable consumers.

“These important reforms were only possible because they are part of the Rudd Government’s and the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) drive to a National Seamless Economy,”   Mr Bowen said.

He said the  fallout from recent economic and financial market chaos had made the need for such legislation clearer than ever.

Mr Bowen said the new laws  would provide  a system that would allow  both consumers and credit providers to look to  the one, national set of rules.

” The delivery of these reforms is part of Phase One of the historic agreement made by the COAG in October 2008 for the Commonwealth to assume responsibility for consumer credit regulation,” Mr Bowen said.

There is  more information at www.treasury.gov.au/consumercredit.